Until about 15 years ago, I didn’t even know who Bill Maher was. The only exposure I had to him was in the great program Family Guy. Brian Griffin (a dog) wrote a book and was booked by Stewie Griffin (a baby) on Maher’s show. Needless to say, hilarity ensues.
Other than that, I really didn’t know much about him. I always just assumed he was a political comedian in the shape of Jon Stewart, on HBO which I would never pay to have access to.
Now with Twitter, YouTube and other social media platforms more prevalent, I’ve seen him in clips. I’d watch them every now and then, get a few cheap laughs, but never wholeheartedly agreed with what he said. I did kind of like how he takes things case by case. He doesn’t follow a particular agenda. Similar to my own opinions.
Then yesterday morning, I saw a clip from Maher that I truly agree with. In fact, I had written about it before I saw it. The clip is about 7 minutes long and I suggest you watch every second. Fair warning, there’s some language that you might not want your kids to hear in it. But honestly, your kids know more swear words than you do, so let it play. Here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qp3gy_CLXho&t=1s
I’m going to go blow by blow here, but Maher says a few things here that really make sense.
The first is how he starts. “Give it to me straight Doc…” is something I fully believe in. People have become too reliant on sunshine and unicorns being provided by their doctors. You go to doctors to tell you what is wrong with you, not for a pick-me-up. Sometimes, doctors can give you good news. I got some of the best news of my life from a doctor a few years ago. But that message came from the same guy that told me I would be totally blind by the age of 65 a few short years before. Now I’m not saying doctors should be doom and gloom, they should tell you what’s wrong and how they think they can fix it. There’s a way to get bad news, but be hopeful about it. Doctors shouldn’t be afraid to hurt people’s feelings by telling them the truth.
Then, Maher gets into how misinformed both sides of the Covid-19 pandemic are. He mocks the right wing idea that “...asymptomatic people can’t spread the disease.” Obviously, anyone who took biology in high school knows that isn’t true. It’s basic science. Then he gets into the lunacy of the left in this matter. Maher cites a gallup poll which shows how uninformed the average democrat is about Covid hospitalizations. “Republicans did better than Democrats...41% of Democrats thought it [Covid hospitalizations] were almost 50%” The real percentage of hospitalizations Maher says, “..,is between 1% and 5%.”
Maher then goes on to blame the media, just like I did earlier this week, by blaming the media and their insistence on showing bad news. He says that according to a Dartmouth study, “90%” of the average news cast in America is negative. They want their ratings and their money, but I ranted about that a few days ago. If you want to read that go here: https://www.blindowlblogs.com/post/is-anyone-shocked
The final thing that Maher says that I agree with fully, is the very simple statement, “I don’t want politics mixed in with my medical decisions.” I don’t see how anyone could disagree on this.
If the media really wanted this country to be healthy and Covid free, then they wouldn’t make us enemies. They also wouldn’t lie to us about the real risks of Covid.
Imagine a world where if your doctor had to first ask who you voted for before they treated you. That is what an over politicizing of medicine will eventually do. That is North Korea-esque. And should scare people.
There are a few things in this world that don’t mix. The three major ones are religion, politics and medicine. Those three things should never come together. Ask me about the Christian Scientist loons out there and be prepared for a tirade. But that’s for another day. But politics and medicine mixing is horrendous. That is why I have always been on the pro-choice side of the argument. We are dealing with medical procedures, not political policy. Let’s let medical folks handle that, not former Harvard Law professors and former Auburn football coaches like the ones we have in the Senate.
I hope everyone can take this short 7 minute clip and take from it what I did. We all need to spread the facts and not let both sides of the media trick us into thinking things that just aren’t true. And not hate someone who gives you facts contrary to what you saw on Fox or MSNBC.
Oh, almost forgot. Never use Clorox on your “knob.” That burns.
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